Did Deaver Jump Gun On Lobbying? White House Targeted 5 Months After He Quit

April 26, 1986|By New York Times

WASHINGTON — Michael Deaver represented a foreign client at a meeting with an official of the National Security Council five months after he left his job as deputy White House chief of staff, according to a report he filed with the Justice Department.

A government ethics official said the meeting was within the law, but congressional critics of Deaver strongly disagreed.

David Martin, director of the Office of Government Ethics, sent a letter to the Justice Department Friday asking it to investigate whether Deaver had violated conflict-of-interest laws. Martin declined to produce the letter or explain what had prompted it.

On Thursday five Democratic senators sent a letter similar to Martin's to Attorney General Edwin Meese, setting in motion a procedure that could lead to the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate Deaver's activities. Meese must respond within 90 days and tell the senators whether he has asked a three-judge federal court to appoint an independent counsel, or if not, why.

The Ethics in Government Act bars high-ranking federal employees with significant decision-making or supervisory authority from representing anyone on any matter pending before their former agencies for one year after leaving the government.

In his report, dated April 18, Deaver said he had represented the Korean Broadcasting Advertising Corp. at a meeting with William Martin, a special assistant to the president for national security affairs.